Vintage inspired shoes from...Clarks

very 30's: lace up shoes, shaped heels, slingback sandals, suede

very 40's: heavier heels, pumps, suede, platform soles, ankle straps, wedges, fabric & canvas

Continuing the vintage inspired shoes series I've recently found a few gems in the collection of Clarks. you find the other posts under the label 'shoes' To be honest, never looked at the Clarks shoes until now because my mom who has 'difficult feet' loves them. The good thing is, the fit must be good, but on the downside she tends to like really shapeless shoes lately. It took me some time to talk her into buying a few neat and feminine shoes with low heels instead of the Birkenstock-type sandals she likes to wear.
The shoes above have typical late 30's and 40's shapes, they would all look equally pretty worn with a skirt or trousers. Now, that we finally (almost) sold our old house I'm aloud to buy new shoes. Above there are quite a few from the 2013 autumn/winter collection which are amazing but sadly, already sold out here. How about the Alma Kendra? To die for!
From now on I really need to watch the Clarks collections for new, vintage inspired items for myself...

As a little extra, below a 1946 article on tips for buying the right shoes for your feet:

Slender silhouettes - 1944 article

How pretty are these wartime suits?!
Comparing these to the famous Dior New Look suits with the tiny waists and huge skirts, I'd say these mid-40's suits are more elegant and definitely would look much more flattering on every body type. Beautiful!
Typical details for the era are the short fitted jackets with accentuated shoulders, high neckline with different type of revers (lapels) and only 3 buttons on the jackets, slightly A-line skirts without gathering or pleating due to the wartime restriction rules (read about it more here), with complementing accessories: hats, bags and gloves.

Government restrictions on clothing - 1942 article

Have you ever wondered why the 40's garments had less details than in the 30's? Why the 40's jumpers were so short? Why the A-line skirts were the fashion of the day? Let's talk about the wartime restrictions of World War 2. Called 'Victory fashions' the fabric and clothing restriction rules were designed in the early 40's to save fabrics and save manpower. Interestingly, the restrictions were not only applied for ready-made clothing items but for home-made items too. At first sight there were a huge amount of restrictions, starting from specifications on the length and width of garments to details like the amount of buttons and the width of hems. As always, there were two sides of every story. On one side it was a sport to find ways to make the most of your wardrobe while obeying the rules, but on the other, it must have been really hard for mothers to have enough items to dress their fast growing children. Scroll down to read the article.

did you know...
...that it was forbidden to place more than two pockets, pocket flaps  and more than 5 buttons on a suit? There were restrictions on using more tucking and shirring than required to fit the garment properly, and the amount of embroidered details was limited to no more than 6 square inches (=15 cm2)?

Source article: AWW through Trove

WW2 Moviestars made their own clothes - 1943 article

"This casually tailored blue suedette suit is perfect for all occasions says Theresa Wright who wears this outfit in her latest Universal movie 'Shadow of a doubt' and had it copied in beige for her personal wardobe. In the top-picture Theresa is seen re-making last years plead coat into a perky little pinafore frock, which she plans to team with crisp white blouses to wear for afternoon at home."

Can you imagine the moviestars of our days sitting behind their sewing machines and making their own outfits? Me neither...
Even when they kept looking glamorous during the WW2 years, not everything was as easy as it seemed. While MGM and Universal studios had a huge collection of costumes on hand they had to deal with the clothing restrictions as well. Scroll down to read the article!




Source article: AWW through Trove

Window shopping back in 1948

Nowadays, once in a while there is a (mostly unsuccessful) initiative to replace the usual, extra-small sized window dummies by 'average' size or plus size dummies, to make feel us, 'average' women better... Well, the problem of the idealized body shape image in marketing existed in the 1940's too.
While we tend to think that the nipped-in waist era started in the early 50's, even the window dummies went from the 26 in (=66.5 cm) waists to 22 in (=56 cm) as early as in 1948! 'Pleasing oval proportions' of the face and 'Vogue' noses, which were 'small, plump and delightful' were preferred. And how about the whopping 5 foot 11 (=180 cm) height?! Not so different from model sizes of our days which is more than 60 years later!!!!
There was true craftsmanship involved in making these dummies, starting with sculpting them individually. The horsehair wigs were set with bobby pins and even the eyelashes were curled...

did you know that...
...back in the early days of department stores window dummies were made out of wax which occasionally melted on hot days, causing the dummies to collapse in the shop window?

Scroll down to read!

source of all newspaper images: AWW through trove

Plus size modeling is not new...

When we think of the 1950's, we the 'New Look' era, tiny, nipped in waists and corsets come to mind. We don't think plus size, though one of the successful fashion personalities at the time was the 50 years old Mag, with her 16 stone (just over a 100 kg).
Scroll down to read the AWW article from 1959!